Misogyny Wars
The Misogyny Wars, so named by Massimo Piglucci in a post on Rationally Speaking, are a series of controversies related to misogyny and feminism in atheist and skeptic communities. Men harassing women in the skeptic community We know there are men connected with the skeptical community who aren't respectful of women, here's PZ on one amazing character. The not-so-Amazing Atheist self-immolates. Sadly there are other men who make problems for women online and the evidence is clear to anyone who looks at those unpleasant websites. #So what should we assume? #Should we assume when those skeptical community rogues meet women offline they stop unpleasantness and behave with total respect and chivalry? #Should we assume none of the difficult men or other likeminded men ever attend atheist conferences? #Should we assume everybody at atheist conferences desists from any bad behaviour that may have happened online? #Should we assume even after spending a long time at a bar no man at any atheist conference ever says anything inept, nerdish or malicious to any woman? #If you really imagine all that what planet have you been living on? We can't always tell definitively which complaints are true and which aren't but overall there are too many complaints and it's likely that a high proportion are true. 2010 June The Woman Problem, a thread on Pharyngula in which women were asked to contribute suggestions to increase participation in atheist/skeptic movement activities. (Note: This post currently lacks comments due to the Natgeo switch, so the most important part of the thread has been lost.) 2011 June The beginning of Elevatorgate, the controversy centered on Rebecca Watson. 'Deep Rifts' Or 'The Humanity Of It All'... Part 1 is a post by blogger Suirauqa exhaustively documenting the major incidents of Elevatorgate. 2012 May The controversy over harassment policies begins, in the wake of comments by Jen McCreight about an informal network of women who communicate about harassment incidents involving male speakers. DJ Grothe, president of JREF, weighs in, and TAM spins off into its own controversy. In Medias Res: how to find the plot if you’re just tuning in is a post by Jason Thibeault at Lousy Canuck, advising people who are not fully informed about the controversy over harassment policies in how to get informed without irritating people who have been involved from the beginning. The comments contain further useful advice and links. Harassment policies campaign – timeline of major events from Lousy Canuck contains links to major blog posts in the controversy about the enactment of harassment policies at atheist/skeptic conferences. 2013 August What can I do? I know even less than PZ does about these rape allegations. I can't say what happened one way or the other, I'm just reporting what I've read. As of late August 2013 I'm not suggesting either way what's true. First a quote from PZ: Statistically overwhelmingly the majority of rape allegations are true, Fake rape? and those that appear to be false are sometimes the result of pressure from authorities to deny a rape that actually happened. I Am a False Rape Allegation Statistic Greta Christina notes a series of complaints from women, some giving their names, some anonymous against this man. Protests range from sexual assault through to sexual advances which though legal were unpleasant and unwanted and Christina suspects a pattern to this. Richard Carrier thinks Shermer is selfish and has a thoroughly low opinion of the f***er very nice guy. There was an attempt to silence PZ. http://www.atheistrev.com/2013/08/shermer-sends-cease-and-desist-letter.html#ixzz2bxenT6c6 Shermer hasn't asked for legal funds but is getting them. I’m Just a Member of the Community So will there be legal fireworks? We don't know yet. At least if this comes to court there's a chance we'll find out more one way or the other as to what really happened. Shermer suddenly claimed he knows who the accuser is though later he tried to backtrack. All this could be the undoing of any legal action, if the court accepts that Shermer knows an accuser the court will also accept Shermer is admitting PZ reported truthfully that someone accused Shermer of this heinous act. What should we do? What do you do when someone pulls the pin and hands you a grenade? Well one thing you don't do is try to brush rape allegations under the carpet, serious accusations merit thorough investigation. We need to make it clear that the skeptical community isn't a safe place for those who abuse women. PZ Myers claims others in the skeptical movement are guilty of denial and cover up over sexual exploitation of women. Painfully close to the truth Greta Christina plans action when she knows more, see Processing: The Sexual Harassment And Abuse Floodgates In General… And CFI In Particular (UPDATED AND CORRECTED) We should be better than those who do wrong in the name of religion. We should learn from the Roman Catholic child abuse scandal. Covering up the problem just made it worse, priests tempted to harm children had little incentive to exercise self control and men tempted to harm children had little incentive to avoid the priesthood. Then when finally the scandal couldn't be contained a great many high ranking Roman Catholics who weren't themselves child molesters were blamed (rightly) for allowing abuse to continue. We shouldn't allow abuse of adult women, in the same way the Roman Catholics shouldn't have allowed child abuse. #We can't prevent it that there are allegations about serious abuse of women in our organisations though we don't yet know what proportion of allegations are true. #We can avoid being complicit in abuse and can avoid sweeping allegations of serious abuse under the carpet. PZ had a case for bringing this up, potential victims of someone who may be a serial rapist have been warned. Now let's not forget nothing has been proved against the guy. (yet?) Word to the wise, PZ if you ever happen to read here. If anyone gives you serious allegations like that again consider telling responsible investigative journalists well before you publish it. That way if the accused man is guilty there's a good chance he'll get to prison, if he's innocent he won't be harassed. Also how about a friendly word with some colleagues at University of Minnesota, Law School? You could have good advice close at hand. Convicted sex offender A convicted sex offender called Cecil Fuson caused problems for Rebecca Watson, this time we know because he's on the sex offenders, register. He clearly has a legitimate, vested interestGetting to Know My Critics: Cecil Fuson, Sex Offender Ophelia Benson supports Rebecca. Against – against against against We're getting to know the murkier parts of the Internet. General A note to those who say they oppose sexism and misogyny in the atheist-skeptical movement, by Pharyngula regular SC (Salty Current), summarizes some common responses to the discussion of sexism and misogyny. See also *Crystal Clear Consent *Sexism Education 101 Link Dump References Category:Humanism Category:Equality Category:Article stubs